A vehicle front body structure designed to allow a front body part to absorb collision energy in a vehicle frontal crash is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent No. 2516212. The vehicle front body structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13.
A conventional vehicle body 200 has a pair of right and left front side members 201, 201 extending longitudinally of the body on the right and left sides of its front part. Right and left front upper members 202, 202 (only the right one shown) extend longitudinally of the body, laterally outside of and above the front side members 201, 201. Right and left wheel houses 203, 203 are provided between the right and left front side members 201, 201 and the right and left front upper members 202, 202, respectively.
In front of the right wheel house 203, the right front side member 201 and the right front upper member 202 are connected at their front portions with front and rear connecting members 204, 205. The left side of the vehicle body 200 has the same configuration.
Reference numeral 206 denotes a front fender. A panel 207 is extended over the front and rear connecting members 204, 205. A subframe member 208 is extended between the right and left front side members 201, 201. Reference numeral 209 denotes a front wheel.
When an impact energy En acts from the vehicle front at a position laterally outside of either front side member 201 in the front part of the body 200, or at what is called an offset collision at the front of the body 200, the impact energy En acts on the front upper member 202, and also acts on the front side member 201 through the connecting members 204, 205. The front side member 201 and the front upper member 202 plastically deform, thereby mitigating the impact energy En acting toward the passenger compartment. That is, the impact energy En acting on the front upper member 202 is absorbed not only by the front upper member 202 but also by the front side member 201 to some extent.
In order to efficiently absorb such an impact energy En by the front part of the body 200, it is conceivable to allow more impact energy En to be transmitted to the front side member 201. For this, it is required to increase the rigidity of the connecting members 204, 205 and the rigidity of joined portions of the connecting members 204, 205.
In the conventional structure, the connecting members 204, 205 are butt-joined at their respective opposite ends to a laterally outer surface 201a of the front side member 201 and a laterally inner surface 202a of the front upper member 202. With this structure, it is relatively easy to increase the rigidity of the connecting members 204, 205. However, with this structure as it is, there is a limit to increase the rigidity of the joined portions.
It is thus desired to be able to efficiently absorb an impact energy at an offset impact on the front of a vehicle body, by a front body part with a simple configuration.